Day 64 - May 14th 2009
Waking up after a good night is pretty sweet. Starting off at Lickety the way we did is definitely a good thing. I also realized I hadn’t gotten my ticket yet for tomorrow’s gig in NYC. I took care of that and had to take care of my hair when Claire called. I was on my way.
Claire at one time was my best friend and when I say best friend I mean we pretty much spent everyday together till just before she left to go back home to New Jersey. I met her on Walnut Street when she was trying to get me to give money to starving children and we’ve been friends ever since. She would eventually become my background singer and in turn I would eventually produce her first album. A really bad arm injury derailed her from pushing the album the way she wanted to but I was proud of the work we did. We were like Batman and Robin, Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde. Wherever you’d see one the other wouldn’t be far behind
We met at Rittenhouse Square, a park we spent lots of time playing music and making fun of crazies. We stopped at a café to eat and I listened to her catch me up on her life. She has a cutting sense of humor that doesn’t catch you unless you’re paying attention. We rolled to my house to rehearse while I waited for Yoni to do my hair.
My hands were killing me. The stuff I did with Claire was steeped a little more in Jazz than my own music so I was making chord shapes on the guitar that I haven’t made in quite some time. What would have been child’s play 4 months ago is now a case of mental gymnastics as I secretly sat and wondered to myself why I put so many chords in these songs. I was able to get through it and my hands pretty much snapped back to form. We were ready and left to go to the open mic.
We decided to take the train and while we were standing there I heard a guy talking very loudly, nothing unusual, black folk are loud on the El Train platform sometimes, then I started listening and began to realize he was actually crazy, bookending everything he would say with the word honey bun. Some choice quotes:
“Honey Buuunnn…I got shot back in ‘92 but I came back, nobody could get me…Honeeeyy Buunnnn”
“Honeyyyy Buuuunnnn…This Guy got arrested back in ’95 for biting off little boys dicks.”
“Honey Buuunnn…Where was yo federal friends that was huntin me back in 96...Honeeyyy Buuunnn.”
“Honeeeyyy Buuunnn…Beyonce went into my sisters house and bit off her clitoris, that’s breaking and entering and assault and battery. That’s like 100 years, if she don’t go to jail I’m killin all y’all”
“Honeeeyyy Buunnnn…Don’t wear Rockawear muthafucks”
Jus Wordz is an institution in the R&B Soul community, if for no other reason than the fact it’s been around for 6 years. As a guy who hosts an open mic myself I don’t get out to them often but Claire wanted to go perform so I said what the hell. I looked at the list and decided to sign up too. Her friend Ashley was there as well. I watched the Boston, Orlando game as they set up and the house band got goin for a while. They’re a lot better than the last guys that were in here.
They began with a discussion portion where they talked about the meaning of the word support and how we should support our community. A nice thing to say in a room full of artists, but I’m sure Claire came here to promote for her CD Release show and none of those people showed. The one knock I probably have about Philly is that there isn’t this universal feeling among artists that we should support each other.
The house band got up and played a little more and a poet Lady Srkazym came up to the stage. She and I worked together at the Crowne Plaza a lifetime ago it seems. She’s still there she told me. We went to warm up as another poet came on. We got back in time to hear that it was gonna be a one and done situation so she jettisoned the ballad, which was great because the song was giving me trouble. We started and I noticed her tighten a bit. But her vocal training is definitely benefiting her. She sounds better than she ever did. She seemed nervous but there’s been a lot of growth there. She just needs to loosed her asshole up just a little. She was greeted with a thunderous applause and the host called my name so I stayed up there.
The seconds leading up to playing an open mic in a room full of strangers are the best. In three seconds you look, you assess, and then you pick the right song. I looked at the keyboard player from the house band who was trying to catch the song while I was playing and immediately told him to stop and then decided tonight it would be Feels So Good. People were clapping trying to sing along as I played my Funky little tune. I again notice how my time with The Camaro crew has made me better. I make lots more eye contact with individuals, I’m nice and loose, and I’m singing properly. When I was done some people even stood up and clapped. The host said this about me
“I saw this college kid get up and I’m expecting this coffee house Tracy Chapman, Fast car type shit….and he turned into Prince on me.”
It was a pretty amazing feeling to be received like that. I wish I could have stayed but with a big trip in the AM and it pouring outside it was time to get back to the house. I decided to pack in the morning and get some sleep tonight
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